The challenge of eliminating racial and ethnic health disparities requires expanding research beyond the biomedical model since many of the determinants of racial/ethnic health disparities differ from the factors that lead to an overall population decline in disease rates. We think that many of the determinants of racial/ethnic disparities in health outcomes are social, behavioral, cultural, economic, historical, and political in nature. Furthermore, we propose that the solutions for eliminating disparities require community participatory approaches. This proposal is being submitted by Morehouse College on behalf of a consortia of four historically Black undergraduate colleges in Atlanta, Georgia: Morehouse College, Spelman College, Morris Brown College, and Clark-Atlanta University, collectively referred to as the Atlanta University Center (AUC), to develop an Excellence in Partnerships for Community Outreach, Research on Disparities in Health and Training (EXPORT) project. The specific aims of the EXPORT project are: 1) To develop a team of researchers (faculty, staff, students) that engage in conducting interdisciplinary studies of the social determinants of racial/ethnic health disparities; 2) To develop research questions, pilot studies, or feasibility studies that explore behavioral, cultural, economic, or political determinants of disparity; 3) To provide junior level and mid-career AUC faculty with mentoring opportunities to conduct social determinants of health disparities research at the University of Michigan and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; 4) To develop community-based participatory research methods for studying intervention approaches to eliminating health disparities; 5) To work directly with grassroots community organizations throughout the southeast to develop projects related to community public health and environmental health issues; 6) To provide African American high school and undergraduate students with educational and research opportunities in science; and 7) to integrate health disparities into the curricula of each of the undergraduate college's research courses and seminars. After 3 years of the EXPORT project, the AUC will have an interdisciplinary team of researchers dedicated to creating an innovative, multidisciplinary framework for studying racial and ethnic health disparities and to developing research techniques that integrate conceptual and analytic social science constructs with behavioral constructs and population-based research. [unreadable] [unreadable] [unreadable]